12-70 


P/.vi, 

No.  575.  S.  Anf^  ' 

Jfflonograpfjs;  on  jWu&tonS 

_UoA,  V.Uv,4^  ,’n  Vi.S,  ,A-> 

I.  The  Canal  Zone 


The  first  Church  work  on  the  Isthmus 
was  begun  by  Americans  in  1855 ; Christ 
Church,  Colon,  a large  stone  structure  built 
in  that  year,  cost  $65,000,  but  when  the 
plans  for  the  building  of  the  canal  col- 
lapsed, Americans  left  the  Isthmus,  a 
Colombian  revolution  broke  out,  and  the 
church  building,  which  still  stands,  was 
used  as  an  arsenal,  a fort,  a powder  mag- 
azine and  for  various  other  purposes. 

In  1883  the  English  Church  established 
the  episcopate  of  British  Honduras,  which 
included  a general  responsibility  for  Cen- 
tral America.  The  American  workers  on 
the  canal  were  mostly  West  Indian  Negroes 
and  of  the  Anglican  Communion,  and  the 
English  Church  went  to  take  care  of  her 
own.  Christ  Church,  Colon,  was  gladly 
turned  over,  other  missions  were  opened 
and  sustained  through  spasmodic  attempts 
at  building  the  canal,  up  to  1907,  when,  on 
the  purchase  of  the  Canal  Zone  by  the 
United  States,  the  English  Church  trans- 
ferred the  work  to  us.  This  transfer  in- 
cluded much  more  territory  than  the  actual 
strip — ten  miles  wide  and  forty-five  long — 
which  our  Government  purchased.  In  all, 
it  is  an  area  of  500,000  square  miles,  with 
200,000  population.  English  influence  in 


Central  America  has  been  waning  for  some 
time,  while  American  interests  have  ad- 
vanced, and  the  English  Church  is  now 
debating  the  wisdom  of  surrendering  to  us 
practically  all  of  Central  America  as  soon 
as  we  can  take  it  over.  > This  is  the  logical 
and  proper  thing  to  do,  because  we  can 
more  easily  carry  on  the  work. 

The  work  in  the  Canal  Zone  has  certain 
unique  features : 

1.  It  is  a co-operative  work.  It  has  mani- 
fested the  highest  genius  of  domestic  mis- 
sions. Domestic  missions  should  not  be 
regarded  merely  as  an  attempt  to  propagate 
the  Episcopal  Church.  Co-operation  of  the 
Church  with  the  State  in  creating  a Chris- 
tian civilization  should  be  their  object.  The 
State  goes  to  undertake  a tremendous  task 
for  the  whole  world — a great  canal  to 
shorten  the  lines  of  traffic  and  draw  the 
ends  of  the  earth  together — and  the  Church 
goes  also.  Throughout  the  whole  building 
of  the  canal,  the  State  and  the  Church  have 
worked  together  to  build  up  morals  and 
religion,  as  well  as  to  make  locks  and 
waterways.  The  Government  has  treated 
the  building  of  the  canal  as  a great  and 
noble  enterprise,  and  has  realized  that  the 
worker  has  his  rights  and  interests;  that 
he  must  have  a chance  for  health  and  com- 
fort, for  education  and  religion.  This  is 
one  of  the  best  examples  of  what  an  army 
is  good  for.  As  American  citizens,  we  re- 
joice in  it,  and  are  glad  that  the  Church 
also  has  had  its  part  in  the  work. 

2.  There  has  been  another  distinctive  fea- 
ture about  this  work.  It  was  temporary , 
and  was  understood  to  be  so.  But  it  was 
worth  while.  We  are  apt  to  think  that  we 


should  not  spend  time  and  money,  where 
there  is  no  chance  of  permanency ; yet  here 
was  a work  which  was  temporary  in  its 
very  nature.  At  one  time  (some  four 
years  ago)  we  had  twenty -five  stations  in 
the  Canal  Zone;  probably  seventeen  of 
these  are  now  under  water.  There  are 
now  only  eight  stations  and  four  clergy. 
The  34,000  people  who  lived  there  during 
the  construction  of  the  canal  have  gone 
home.  But  both  they  and  we  are  stronger 
and  better  because  the  beneficent  task  of 
a Christian  nation  was  Christianly  accom- 
plished. 

3.  The  Canal  Zone  speaks  not  only  of  a 
good  work  done,  but  of  a larger  work  that 
may  be  done.  With  the  exception  of  Costar 
Rica,  the  political  and  religious  conditions 
of  the  Central  American  Republics  are  de- 
plorable. In  going  to  the  Canal  Zone  we 
have  become  neighbors  to  many  thousands 
of  heathen  people.  I think  the  Church  was 
taken  down  there  that  she  might  see  the 
crying  need  of  the  peoples  of  Central 
America.  Even  that  which  passes  for 
Christianity  is  probably  the  lowest  type 
which  has  ever  been  produced  by  the  Roman 
Church.  The  president  of  one  of  the  Cen- 
tral American  republics  actually  built  a 
temple  to  a heathen  god  and  caused  the 
rites  of  that  god  to  be  performed,  in  the 
midst  of  what  was  supposed  to  be  a Chris- 
tian community.  Frederick  Palmer  has 
written  a very  interesting  book  about  these 
conditions  — “Central  America  and  Its 
Problems”  (See  also  article  by  Mr.  Palmer 
in  The  Spirit  of  Missions  for  May,  1911, 
page  389).  He  was  very  urgent  upon  his 
return  from  that  region  that  something  be 


done,  and  the  matter  has  been  discussed, 
but  nothing  has  resulted. 

The  work  in  the  Canal  Zone  in  the  past 
is  small  compared  to  what  it  will  become 
in  the  future.  Panama  will  some  day  be 
one  of  the  world’s  great  shipping  centers. 
It  is  already  one  of  the  greatest  of  our  mili- 
tary garrisons.  Eventually  it  will  also  be 
a great  ecclesiastical  center  from  which  the 
Church  will  carry  on  a continent-wide  work. 


Copies  of  this  leaflet  may  he  obtained  from 
The  Literature  Department,  281  Fourth  Ave- 
nue, New  York,  by  asking  for  575. 


3 Ed.  2-19.  5M.  N. 


